Sgt Pepper the Squirrel.

 I arrived to find the squirrel shaped steel peppered in 22 shaped splats. None of them on the killzone. I think the farmers grandson might have found the farmers rusty open sighted unzero’d .22 springer from 1960 something. (The last vermin that hit was a rat he clubbed with it)

   It was ok my rifle was already zero’d and he’d hit everything but the kill. The first pellet dropped the target and the second reset it.  Fair enough it was still good.

   I moved around the yard, stopping at various ranges aiming and dropping the 40mm kill happily enough. With the 15mm reducer on it was a different matter. A security light kept flicking on and I couldn’t see the kill through the scope. I dropped it a few time so was happy –ish and jollily trundled off to see whether the rats could see me in my realtree gear.

  I had confidence in my rifle, kit, scope and my ability, everything had clicked. I wasn’t going for 60 point rounds, just a days shooting something different.

  I was excited, scared and nervous all rolled into one .The only hurdle now was my Brother In law to be’s 50^th birthday on the Saturday night before round one. No drinking, dodgy barbeque burgers and no staying up late.

 Unfortunately those rules only applied to me. I eventually managed to drag my Girlfriend who was really enjoying herself away about 1-ish. My attempt to get some sleep before hitting the road at 5am was just that, an attempt. I was too excited and nervous and it was a rubbish nights sleep. But with flask made, car packed and fuelled by adrenalin, I was on the road and eventually pulling into Lea Valley Car Park just before 8am.

driving driving driving rawhide

Jame, Vinny and Mike 3 guys that know what they're doing and are always have time to help you out.

 I found familiar faces, I’d met at quarry and Kibworth, and they helped me get myself familiar with what was happening. I booked in got my scorecard, had a coffee in the cafe bit, and went up the ranges to double check I could shoot straight. I’d still not sorted out what the notches on the crosshairs meant. Told you I wasn’t going for wins.

 There was what appeared to be hundreds of knockdowns on one range and on the other there was a load of paper targets.

 I have no idea how you can zero when there’s about 50 people doing the same thing on paper targets. How do you know which hole are yours? Confusing but it’s probably one of those things that just works. One day I might find out but for now I decided that I’d make sure I’m zero-d in before I turn up to a comp, and made my way to the knockdown target range to practice hitting yellow circles.

  There were all shapes and sizes of knockdowns and a couple of people were already up there firing away. I got down prone, put a tin next to my gun and set about doing the same.  I must admit that I did have that little bit of doubt, whether the ones I was shooting were actually being knocked down by me, or someone else going for the same ones. The solution is to wait until you think they’ve all taken their shots then do yours. It all works nicely.

Happy with my skills and full of dreams of the perfect 60. I waited for the safety briefing to start. It was hot and really muggy. 

  A novelty to me was the fact that my new realtree trousers didn’t have holes in the pockets, so I could fill them up with pellets and not take my jacket. However a couple of the other shooters up there said that the rain would be coming in ooooooh about 11ish. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it had all the makings of leg pulling. But it gave me the dilemma jacket on or off.

  It developed into a bit of a thing, and as I contemplated finding the right answer, it was time for the safety briefing.

 I put my jacket on for the umpteenth time, took it off, picked up my rifle and then put my jacket on again. Took it off and walked to the briefing. It might be fair to say I could have been a little bit nervous. Last time I did something like that was the first time I was off out with my girlfriend.

Now the general census of opinion is that all safety briefings are the same. They all start with “now I know you all know this and have done it a thousand times before but. . .”

. . . I haven’t it’s all new to me.

Safety briefings are my only clue as to what’s about to happen. And this one had something else new too. The introduction of a chrono. It makes sense; in order to make it fair rifles must be under the legal limit. I think of it as a drug test for your rifle.

 It interested me, as I have never put my rifle over a chrono. That might sound odd, and perhaps in some people eyes irresponsible. I just hunt, all this competition stuff is new to me and I’m not a tinkerer when it comes to rifles. I can change stocks, buddy bottles, oil it, clean it etc but I let my local gunsmith do all the servicing and tinkering stuff. It’s the safest way for me.

As a result I don’t own a chrono and haven’t used one as it’s out the back in the gunsmiths.

So I was intrigued enough to volunteer to put my rifle over the chrono before I shot the comp.

I walked up and asked

 “Sure” said the marshal, “what pellets are you using?”

 “Loguns” Out came a little book with all the weights in except the .20’s I was shooting. “I think the box says 15.6gr”. But to be sure the marshal weighed them, they turned out to be 15.3.

Shooting a couple of pellets across the chrono brought back a very close but unfavourable result. Enough that I wouldn’t be able to shoot the comp.

 One of the other guys shot his over the chrono and he too came out unfavourably. And we both walked back tail between our legs not allowed out to play today. I was gutted and felt very stupid. I’d prepared myself my kit meticulously and yet something so obvious, simple and easily avoided had counted me out before I even got started. My first national round one and it’s an early bath. Gutted.

 As if in consolation everyone back at the car park was offering advice on reasons why it might have happened whilst rummaging around for Allen keys and trundling off to the range with chrono’s in tow. They  told me something I knew and yet didn’t think of. My rifle is set by my local gunsmith at 11.9. Up until now I was happy with that. It was likely that this hot and humid day might have had a slight effect on the power rating. That’s certainly what the other guy was thinking. 

I’d not even thought about it but now it was right there in big red flashing writing with alarm bells. Lesson learnt, and it was clear that to be on the safe side you need to have your rifle set to a power rating that atmospherics won’t make your trip a wasted one. The allen key action I saw going on I think meant a few others learnt from my mistake too. It certainly led a lot of people to check so as much as I thought it was novice mistake it might be that it wasn’t as novice as I thought.

I left Lea Valley, gutted, smarting from a mistake, down a days shooting and 30 more pellets than I was planning on having. However I left with a greater knowledge and lessons learnt.

  Firstly that a chrono might be something worth investing in and isn’t just another bit of kit to carry around. Even if you don’t want to fiddle around with your rifle if you have one you can check you’re legal.  I’ve got one on order now,

  Secondly that atmospherics can possible mess around with the power rating of your rifle.

  Thirdly that there’s absolutely no point in having a rifle that close to the limit. Mine is now set to 11ftlb to be on the safe side.

  And finally inform your girlfriend you’ll order her a taxi home.

Results can be found here and see you at Tawd !!!

The new toy ready to do this biz. Get one, its invaluable, you really do need one and its most definitelly not just another bit of kit.

Some photos from other shooters and nettre photogrpahers than me. Thanks guys